Chad Brown is a terrorist who appeared in Amplification.
History
Chad Brown started studying at the University of Maryland in 2004. Amplification revealed that he'd never had a steady job, has a sister, worked at a book store for a while, had been arrested twice at protest rallies and had a girlfriend whom he proposed to, but was rejected. She later filed a restraining order against him. Prior to Amplification, he applied for a job at Fort Detrick, but failed the psychological evaluation. He wrote a thesis on anthrax attacks, like the Amerithrax attacks in 2001, and asked Dr Nichols, an expert in the field who had been demoted to working with the influenza, for assistance. He was glad to help, having missed teaching, and even showed him the private lab in his residence, where he had access to anthrax and had even developed a new, more aggresive strain. Nichols being a anti-WMD proliferation fanatic who wanted to show people how vulnerable America was, Chad took his teachings to the extreme and performed an anthrax attack on the book store he once worked at, hoping for a promotion but was rejected. Since the dose was very high, the victims died of organ failure before other symptoms became present. When Nichols found out, he and Chad had an argument, which resulted in Chad killing him.
In Amplification, Brown went to the Quiet Hills Park in Annapolis, Maryland, where he had proposed to his girlfriend, and released weaponized anthrax. 25 people were infected, leading to a joint investigation by the BAU and U.S. Army scientists, led by General Lee Whitworth. The profile led them to Dr Nichols. Morgan and Reid went to his residence where Reid found the lab, was infected and sealed the room. The room's furniture revealed that Nichols had a protegé, Chad Brown. In his thesis paper, he wrote about a mock anthrax attack on the D.C. subway system. Whitworth sent watchmen to the target area suggested by Brown, but Hotch argued that that Brown had attacked places he associated with rejection and would therefore attack the subway line leading to Fort Detrick, to which he had applied for a job, but failed the psychological evaluation. Hotch and Derek confronted him and attempted to arrest him, but was stopped by Whitworth who wanted to take Brown into custody so he could help find a cure for the anthrax strain. When he talked Brown into giving up the bag of anthrax-filled light bulbs he had brought with him, Derek made the arrest; the whole intervention had been staged in order to give Brown fake validation and get him to surrender. Reid, who had deduced that Nichols had hidden a cure for the anthrax strain in his inhaler, was cured along with four other infected.
Modus Operandi
The anthrax strain used by Brown was highly aggressive, poisoned the lungs, caused organ failure and aphasia, a speech impediment.
Profile
Chad Brown and Dr Nichols both fit the profile of a homegrown terrorist, not unlike the Unabomber and the Amerithrax killer. Prentiss described that type of UnSubs as "myopic zealots" who are convinced that their belief is the truth. The UnSub would work in the science and/or defence community, have access to his own workspace and the chemicals needed to produce anthrax, have worked overtime lately and recently suffered some professional humiliation, like a demotion or being fired. He would be secretive, dramatic, even a little paranoid. He would also have preached a lot about future anthrax attacks on the U.S. and know every detail about the Amerithrax attacks and what that perpetrator could've done better. He would also have btrayed his loved ones for his cause and may recently have separated or divorced. The attack locations would have some personal significance. The profile led the authorities to Dr Nichols, who taught Brown and made the anthrax together with him. Brown's goal with the attack was to show how vulnerable America was to more terrorist attacks.
Victims
- Albert Franko (owned the book store in which Brown had worked, was killed in it by a large dose of anthrax)
- Gale Mercer (killed in the book store)
- Martha Finkstein (killed in the book store)
- Dr Nichols (was killed by blunt force head trauma in his lab)
- Infected 25 people in the Quiet Hills park, 4 of them were cured
- Spencer Reid (indirectly responsible, was infected by anthrax left in the lab)